3 Long Years

Three years ago today I bought my house!

Sometimes looking at an old picture reminds you just how far you've come.

So Many Lighting Options

I've never been good at making up my mind. I'm so bad at making up my mind that I put off making a decision until the very last moment and then end up with whatever is left or easiest, not always what I would have wanted.

I want to break that cycle. So, knowing that I will soon have to choose a lighting fixture for my living room, I started looking early. I even thought I had narrowed down my options to just two lights from Lampsplus.com, even then I couldn't commit. . .

Then I started poking around a bit more. . .

Lampsplus.com

Home Depot

Lowes

Now I'm really screwed. My style is all over the place and I have no idea which one the pick. . . HELP!

The Mango Maker

One of the things that made me fall in love with my house was the giant old mango tree in the backyard. . .

The tree is probably 50 years old, is well over 40 feet high and produces 1000s (yeah, you read that right) of mangoes in the summer. . .

. . . and I'm thinking about cutting it down. . .

Yeah, it doesn't feel good. . . but I have my reasons -

• it is so large and so close to the house that it could cause major major major damage in a hurricane (it is south Florida, after all)



• it produces giant 2 - 3 pound mangoes which fall from up to 40 feet high making it dangerous to be near in the summer (there are craters in the yard from where they land)



• 1000s of mangoes = 1000s of rotting mangoes

I can't really afford to do anything right now anyway, but I need to decide if I should start saving for it or if I should just let it be. . .

I'm really torn about what to do, what do you all think?

R.I.P Pickle Pants

This morning there was a little accident. . .

. . . I wasn't paying attention and I stepped on Pickle Pants. Yes, I name my yard gnomes.

Pickle Pants wasn't just any yard gnome, though, he was my very first yard gnome. I originally bought him to be part of my final instillation for an art class I took in college. Once the class was over I couldn't see myself parting with him, so he became the first of my many yard gnome.

Today is a sad day at Laurendy Home, Pickle Pants will be missed.

R.I.P.

Pickle Pants

2005 - 2011

One Place, One Space: Ikea - Little Girls' Room

MINNEN bed frame
MELDAL day-bed frame
TROFAST storage combination
MINNEN children's table
MINNEN children's chairs
DUKTIG 10-piece tea set
DUKTIG 9-piece fruit basket set
DUKTIG 14-piece vegetables set
RENATE BLOM duvet covers and pillowcases
RENATE cushion
EKNE mirror
TRONDHEIM 6-drawer dresser
SARITA pair of curtains
KRISTALLER chandelier

Virtual Shopping: Good As Gold

• Dahlia Gold Placemat from Crate & Barrel


• Crystal Pinata from CONFETTISYSTEM


• Banana Bud Vase from Jonathan Adler


• Gold Bars


• Moroccan Pouf from Ebay seller Moroccangift


• Twinkle Tree from Urban Outfitters
  

I've been on a total gold kick lately, and getting that set of gold Jonathan Adler bud vases for my birthday only fueled the golden fire.

I Can't Believe It's Not Wallpaper!

Well, it's sorta wallpaper, but not really - technically they're "Pattern Wall Tiles", a new product from Blik. The tiles are 2 feet by 4 feet each and come as a set of two for $39.

I've always been a huge Blik fan, but yet to really find a place to use their products in my own home (though my niece has a huge Blik feather mural over her crib, super cute). I'm also sorta obsessed with graphic wallpaper, but have been total scared to even give it a try.

So you can guess my excitement level when I saw the beauties above in my inbox this morning. A wallpaperish accent that I think I can handle. . . now I just need to pick a wall.

Yes Please

Seriously? Come on West Elm! Why couldn't you have debuted these last week when I was at your store?

Cleaning Up My Front Porch

Lately my front porch has been looking rather sad -

Between the weeds popping up through the pavers, the dirt that has gone unswept and the fact that I've basically been using it as a dumping spot, the front porch had lost it's "come, sit out here, relax and watch your puppy run around the yard" charm (it's a very specific type of charm).

Last week I mentioned that I got a new bench as a birthday gift and I was planning on giving my porch a bit of a makeover. Well, a full makeover will have to wait until it isn't like 4oo degrees outside in shade, but a nice little clean up seems to have helped a bit.

I returned the green chair to it's rightful place in the backyard, pulled everything off the porch and got to work cleaning. I swept, weeded and washed the the porch down. I gave the gnomes a little bath (there were five gnome in the first picture, only three in the second. Two of them are getting makeovers of their very own in the side yard - more on that later). I did my best to neatly stack the unused flower pots and some random pavers in the corner out of the way so they didn't seem so messy. Finally I added my new bench and smile.

There's isn't anything earth shattering about this quick clean up, but I figured I have posted about my home in a while, so it was due.

Note that the color difference in the pictures is due to the fact that the first photo was taken around 8am and the second photo was taken around 6:30pm.

One Place, One Space: Antropologie - Dining Room

• Bake By Numbers Pie Place


• Sushi Queen Flatware


• 
  
  Winking Wisecraker Jar


• Grapefruit Sugar Bowl


• Paper Pretender Dinner Plate


• Grown in the Garden Large Tureen
  

• Bluestone Island


• Lindo Dining Table


• Henri Chairs
  

Decorating PB's Place - Living Room

~ I'm putting together a few mood boards in hopes of getting my friend PB to stop living like a college student and decorate his apartment. I've limited my search to stores he has locally. I'm trying to keep the mood boards simple so that he has plenty of room to grow and add his own touches if he chooses to. ~

The final room we're tackling for PB is his living room. The room is long and narrow, there is a half wall dividing the living and dining rooms and the wall opposite the entrance in taken up almost entirely by a fireplace and two tall narrow windows.

Artwork - Target
Sofa - Ikea
Two Storage Cubes - Crate & Barrel
Throw Pillow - Crate & Barrel
Bookcase (to be laid on its side) - Ikea

The bookcase is going on the half wall across from the sofa, it will also be used to hold a flat screen t.v. on the end near the fire place.

Speaking of the fireplace, it needs some accessories of its own -

Mirror - Pier 1
Grass Plant - Crate & Barrel
Vases - Crate & Barrel

Birthday Bandit

So all thoughts of having a low key birthday were erased when I walked into my mother's house Sunday afternoon to be greeted by my nearest and dearest shouting "SURPRISE".

Yep, they done surprised me (my sister said I yelped) with a BBQ /Pool Party. And to think I was ticked at my aunt for making me come home from shopping early.

Not only did I have a wonderful time, but I made out like a bandit in the gift department.

• My aunt got me the bench I had been eyeing from Ace Hardware (front porch makeover here I come).


• My parents got me the Keurug (did I spell that right?) coffee maker I wanted.


• And my cousin got me a set of gold Jonathan Adler bed vases (talk about swoon).

My mom and sister also put together a slide show with tons and tons of photos of me growing up, I'll share some of the less embarrassing ones with you in the future.

Yes Please!

Seriously, how beautiful and wonderful is that bench?

Today I Woke Up. . .

and I'm not really all that happy about it. . .

Loving. . .

double click the pictures for links

Sunny Side Up

It's been a gray and gloomy few weeks, so what better way to cut the gloom and forget the rain than lust after some sunshiny decor.

chair / candle stick / candles

tea towel / bowl / chair / vase

sculpture / candle / tea towel /pillow

bowl / vases / stool

lamp / coral / bowl /vase

Decor and accessories from Crate & Barrel, CB2, West Elm, Z Gallerie and Ikea.


Wow, I don't think I've ever linked so many items at one time before. Notice the ombre effect going on? Nice touch if I do say so my self.

This new chair from CB2 is soooooooo not me, but I love it, I really do. It's wrong in all the right ways. Actually, they've got a ton of pretty awesome new furniture - go check it out - what's your favorite piece?

For the Birds

This bird feeder from Umbra is pretty much to coolest bird feeder in history. . . and someone has a birthday in less than a week. . . just sayin. . .

Outfitted - Summer Fun

Purse, Necklace & Earrings - Forever21
Sandels - Wild Diva at Endless.com
Top & Shorts - Avenue

I picked up the shorts and top this past weekend - Avenue was having an awesome sale. I'm not really a shorts kinda person. . . I generally live by a "below the knee" rule, but I know it is going to be super duper hot at the World's Longest Yard Sale, so for the first time in years, my knee will see the sun. . .

Yes Please!

Totally useless, but totally awesome!